Resident Evil: Revelations feels like a game from 1996 (review)

Don’t let the polished visuals fool you or the sharp TV series presentation. This is as old-school as a survival-horror game can get. For better or worse, Capcom has kept the methodical pace and clumsy controls. Switch the voice acting to English and it’s awful in a campy kind of way. The game single-handedly sets back video game dialogue 16 years with lines like “God, these tentacles are so annoying!”

AN INTRICATE PLOT: But for all its stubborn flaws, Resident Evil: Revelations does add some new wrinkles. The most obvious is the splintered story that takes place between Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5. It can be disorienting and confusing at first, but the woven plot among Chris, Jill and other members of the Bioterrorism Security Assesment Allance forces players to be more engaged with the narrative. It just won’t come to them, they’ll have to seek answers and connect the dots to the mystery behind the destruction of the sea settlement, Terragrigia, and it’s connection to the cruise ship Queen Zenobia.

It’s a convoluted mess in the beginning, but as players go through the campaign and figure out what’s a clue and what’s a red herring, the narrative irons itself out. The episodic pacing also gives players time to digest what’s happeing around the unpredictable twist and turns. There’s even a surprising “Silence of the Lambs” moment that’s stunning.

When it comes gameplay, the developer switches the over-the-shoulder third-person perspective for a first-person view during combat. It works well but the problem is that moving around while shooting is still awkward and excruciatingly slow. It can especially be annoying when facing multiple enemies or battling one of the minibosses. Fans looking for an update to the control scheme can look elsewhere or perhaps wait for Resident Evil 6.

THE SCANNER IS A GOOD THING: One of the smaller tweaks that I liked was the Genesis bioscanner. It works just like a gun except players can search the environment for items, enemies, upgrades and secrets using the device. It offers an incentive to explore the detailed environments instead of rushing headlong through the campaign. It’s also a lifeline for players running low on ammo or health. At the same time, it puts players in tough spots. They’ll quickly learn that scanning enemies will help them earn health packs and the question becomes: Is it worth it to scan an enemy and risk getting hurt or fighting them outright and losing an opportunity to get more energy.

Lastly, there’s an upgrade system for guns. It lets players customize the weapons they carry and helps complement their play style. Those who like firing at virus-infected monstrosities from far away can upgrade the rifle. Those who enjoy spraying bullets can improve one of many machine guns. What’s great is that players can easily switch out upgrades at supply stations scattered throughout each level. Thankfully, they don’t stay permanently attached to a weapon.

STILL A SURVIVAL GAME AT HEART: But those tweaks don’t do anything to change the essential heart of Revelations. Players still have to conserve ammo. There are cheap frights as mutated creatures lurk around corners and in the ventilation ducts. The game even hides the loading screen for each room by showing a spinning ship’s wheel on a door. It’s reminiscent of the 1996 game when players were shown a door opening to hide the loading of a room. Combine this with the voice acting and absurd dialogue and Revelations feels close to the campy original.

The big difference is back then those frustrating quirks were bearable, but now, Revelations is released in an era where players have Gears of War and Dead Space. Players should rightfully expect fluid and responsive gameplay. Unfortunately, Revelation’s controls can get infuriating, especially when fighting several foes in a room. I spent a lot of time running, firing a weapon, running away again and firing. Capcom does mix it up sometimes. Players have to use a portable scanner to find invisible hunters, so they can shoot them. They’re are some turret levels that the change the pace. But those don’t do enough to rejuvenate a formula that desperately needs a revamp.

As for the 3-D, it helps with the aiming, allowing players to judge distance, but it’s not indispensible. Players can happily enjoy the eye candy without it. Meanwhile, the Raid mode, which is unlocked after finishing the campaign, offers good replay value though players will be rushing through stages they’ve played before. The big difference is that the foes are more powerful and players have a human-controlled partner to help them out.

Resident Evil: Revelations is a worthy entry to the series no matter what system it’s on but the fact that it’s running on the Nintendo 3DS and looks gorgeous is a testament to the team and the handheld. Although it’s not the best release in recent years, it is serviceable. For casual gamer, the hard-core controls won’t appeal to them, but for the longtime fans, they’ll enjoy a legitimate Resident Evil experience on the go.

Gieson Cacho

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What an awful and crap review. First of all the controls are not clumsy, u clearly must be retarded if u cant grasp the simple controls. Hardcore controls, don’t make me laugh.
The voice acting is a million times better than the original Resident Evil (which was known for being downright awful), and is actually one of the great things about the game.
The pacing is fine as each chapter on average lasts 20-30mins .
Far too much use of the word camp in this so called review, anyone would think you are homophobic.
3d effect can be adjusted from normal to intense and definitely adds to the gameplay, its one of the few games that actually makes great use of the 3d effect.
Lets hope you are not actually paid to right reviews like this as I’d be asking for my money back.
This is by far the best third party release and arguably one of the best resident evil games every made, so maybe you should stick to gears of war instead of writing crap about things you have no idea.

I agree with THruthhurts your review of the game is dead wrong have you even played it. It is one of the best games available for the 3ds. You feel like something from 1996. The game feels brand new and works well with the 3d effects.

RaMbo

3/4 star rating? Horrible review if I most say so myself! Your words lead me to believe it was a 1/4 rating learn how to rate games you lame!

RaMbo’s review of Resident Evil Revelations

Graphics 9/10
Gameplay 8.5/10
Controls 8.5/10
Voice acting 8.5/10 (did Jill sound a lil funny to u??)
Replay (don’t know yet haven’t beat the game)
Overall: Great addition to the resident evil franchise
A Most get for any 3DS owners!
Looking foward to 6 but I’m not sure about O.R.C….

I agree with these people. Resident Revelation was an exciting game as for the controlers, look if you dont know how to handle it, then dont played it. Stop making reviews and ruined it for others. Resident Evil Revelation got me going. S[ecially that damn girl stalker -.- tooo freaky.

Gieson Cacho

Hey guys, I loved the story and I loved the addition of the bioscanner but the RE controls just annoyed me. It was frustrating at two points when you were searching for the key from the comm officer and swim controls. I actually like camp. You should look up what it means or maybe read Susan Sontag’s essay on it.

Please stop reviewing.

Seriously.You only troll with your reviews and obviously try to go against the consensus opinion just to be “different”. Please stop.

Hi There Blogs,
Thanks for that, Yes, I’m sure Justin Bieber afraid the hell outta that you too when you saw their face, however in all seriousness… What is the chilling point that is ever occurred for you? At least very best chilling thing you’ve actually seen?It may be from the film, TV show, game, and so on or even some thing might observed within the flesh.For me personally, the chilling thing I have actually noticed would need to be on Resident Evil Revelations.*SPOILER ALERT*Hearing Rachael’s whispering tone of voice state ‘I discovered a person… ‘ initially after which getting the girl show up from absolutely no where whenever almost everything has been perfectly quiet actually creeped on earth outta me. The lady quickly lost her creepiness though, great I just find the girl awesome.: 3 In rezzou mode after i faced her again, right after the lady fled to another room, just like I was going to open up the following door to go after the girl, We heard her stating ‘I’m scared… Somebody, save me personally! ‘ This in fact helped me have a pity party on her, but it didn’t stop me personally through blasting her avoid with my shotgun.I am very rarely frightened of films or even online games which means this had been a very first for me.
Catch you again soon!

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